Throw Fun Theme Parties for Adults: Wine, Cheese & Fruit Parties or Bollywood Movie Night

Why should eight year olds have all the fun when it comes to theme parties? Sure, adults will occasionally attend a costume party to celebrate Halloween, but when was the last time you went to a pirate party or a dress-up princess party or a party with clowns and pony rides or one of those blow-up bouncy tents? Just because you're an adult doesn't mean that parties must be staid affairs. Theme parties for adults can be fun in months other than October, and they're not just for youngsters anymore.

Two theme parties are a big hit in my circle of friends, and they can be hosted at any time of year. They are Wine, Cheese and Fruit parties and Bollywood parties.

Wine, cheese and fruit parties do not have to be stuffy affairs. In fact, the less formal the set up, the more fun they are. All you need is some wine-loving friends, a place to host, and some red wine and white wine glasses.

You don't even have to know very much about wine and cheese or how to pair them. The whole point is to learn what kinds of cheeses and wines you like and which ones go together well without being unduly influenced by the opinions of "the experts." These parties don't have to be pricey, either. If you want to keep the party affordable, set a limit saying that bottles of wine can't cost more than $15. It's easy to find a super $60 bottle of wine, but it's much more of a challenge to find a better-than-average bottle on a budget.

It isn't necessary to sniff the cork, swirl the wine in the glass, or spit out the wine after tasting as is done in formal wine tastings, though you can feel free to do any of those things if you like. The only thing to keep in mind is that if you're actually swallowing each wine you taste, you need to keep each sample small (one or two ounces), or else you'll be courting hangovers the next day. You also need to have a plan in place for a designated driver if you choose to sample three or more wines over the course of an evening.

To prepare, ask each friend to bring a wine to sample and a cheese to go with it. If this intimidates your friends, let them know that the wine steward at many wine stores or upscale delis will be happy to suggest pairings. As the host, you may want to provide at least one white and one red wine, along with a couple of cheeses to sample. You'll probably also want to set out a few other food items to provide variety and to compliment the wine and cheese, and this is where the fruit comes in. You can also make crackers or chunks of baguette available to go with the cheeses.

Make many plates, glasses, and knives for the fruit and cheese available, along with some toothpicks for spearing cheese chunks, and you're all set.

To get you started with some ideas, here are a few recommended pairings:

-Soft white goat cheeses go well with a pinot noir

-Pears and sharp cheddar complement each other exceptionally well

-A sweet white dessert wine or a pinot grigio go well with Fontina

-Try Gloucester cheese with a zinfandel

-Strawberries pair nicely with many cheeses, both soft and mild as well as sharper cheeses

Bollywood parties can be a hilarious good time even for those who aren't generally fans of musical theater. The whole point of the Bollywood party is to have good food paired with bad cinema, so the sillier the movie you pick, the better. Comedies work much better than dramas for these parties.

The Bollywood party, like the Wine, cheese, and fruit party, can be done as a communal effort, an ethnic potluck of sorts. If, as the host, you're inspired to cook, you can provide all the food. However, when my circle of friends hosts these, we throw them as potlucks, and we change households each time we host. You can cook from scratch, bring a pre-made dish from a local Indian deli or grocery store, or get take-out. You may want to do some menu coordination with your guests ahead of time so you don't end up with one main dish and then four sets of samosas, five kinds of dessert, and three servings of naan.

Let folks fill up their plates with their choices from the buffet and the sit down to mock the singing and dancing and the ridiculous love triangles in the film you've picked. Many Bollywoodmovies are three or more hours, so be prepared for some lengthy screen times.

If you have friends who aren't familiar with Bollywoodmovies and you want to ease them into the experience, try "Koi... Mil Gaya" which is sometimes referred to as the Bollywood version of E.T.

Another film that can be understood well across cultural barriers is "Chori, Chori, Chupke, Chupke." It's theme is an odd love triangle that borrows heavily from America's "Pretty Woman."